In ‘The Last Trick’ two magicians in large masks perform their impossible tricks one after another against a black, empty background.

Although they stay polite, their congratulationary handshakes between the tricks gradually become more and more violent, ending in a disastrous mutual disembodiment. The last shot is of the only really living organism inhabiting this surrealist world, a beetle, dead.

‘The Last Trick’ is Czech film maker Jan Švankmajer’s first film, and already his obsessions with puppets, body parts and death are full blown. Its humor is dark, its images are grim and its story is very unsettling. Švankmajer’s first film (which contains a little stop motion animation) is also his first masterpiece.

Watch ‘The Last Trick’ yourself and tell me what you think:

‘The Last Trick’ is available on the DVD ‘Jan Svankmajer – The Complete Short Films’